Warriors win a wild one

As Fluvanna County coach Mike Sheridan put it, the fans in attendance for Tuesday’s Jefferson District semifinals sure got their money’s worth. After Louisa County upset No. 1 seed Orange County in eight innings in the first game, No. 2 Western Albemarle locked horns with No. 3 Fluvanna County in another extra-inning affair to remember.

When all was said and done, the Warriors held on in a wild 10-inning thriller, 4-3, to advance to Thursday’s district championship game.

“That’s one of those kind of baseball games that it’s a shame that somebody had to lose,” said Western coach Skip Hudgins. “Mike does a great job with the group at Fluvanna and they’re a class act. We feel very fortunate to have won this one.”

Last year, it was Fluvanna that ended Western’s run in the district tournament. This year, senior Peter Hurley was the hero for the Warriors, as the centerfielder knocked in fellow senior Matt Foley in the bottom of the 10th inning to give Western (14-3) the win. Foley, who doubled to left to get into scoring position, barely beat a terrific throw by Josh Gooch at home. Hurley was 0 for 3 before that at-bat, as he previously struck out in the seventh inning with two runners on and one out. Hurley was looking to redeem himself when he stepped into the batters box.

“Sam did a job pitching,“ Hurley said. “That was a heroic effort, and I just wanted to come through for him and the team. It feels good to have some redemption.”

Fluvanna jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning, as third baseman Tyler Denby doubled to left-center to score Zack Miller. The Flying Flucos (14-7) added two more runs in the third and fourth innings, respectively, and had a comfortable 3-0 cushion.

The Warriors battled back in the bottom of the fourth, scoring three runs at the bottom of their order to tie the game at 3. Nick Kuzjak, Cody Davis and Foley - the seventh, eighth, and ninth batters - each drove in a run, and Western had new life. Davis hit a rocket to left field that hit the fence and wound up with a triple.

Senior pitcher Sam Reidesel threw a 123-pitch complete game of ten innings, an unusual feat for hurlers on any level.

Sheridan chuckled, “I was hoping we were going to go to the 11th just so I could see if they had anybody else left.”

Reidesel seemed to pitch better as the game went on, as he sat down seven Fluco batters in a row at one point without surrendering a hit for almost six innings. He gave up just five hits, striking out six and walking three.

“Sam actually had more life on his fastball and his breaking ball was better from the fifth inning on,” Hudgins said.

The Warriors looked sloppy at times on defense, committing seven errors. Each team had several opportunities slip away, the most noteworthy coming in the top of the fourth. Fluvanna had the bases loaded with no outs, but Josh Barringer hit into a double play. Alex Farina then reached on an error by Kuzjak, who couldn’t handle the ground ball, but Kyle Pillow was thrown out trying to sneak home.

“We felt like we squandered some chances in every inning from the sixth on,” admitted Hudgins. “I think we had the go-ahead run in scoring position and couldn’t come up with a big hit.”

The Flucos again looked ready to strike in the seventh, and Hudgins decided to intentionally walk Fluco star Ryan Foster, who finished the game 0 for 2 with two walks. Chris Godlewski then reached in his second-ever at-bat to load the bases again, but Denby - who went 2 for 5 - hit a towering shot to center but it wasn’t far enough and he flied out.

“He hit about a 350-foot fly ball that went about 350 feet high,“ Sheridan laughed. “I didn’t think it was ever going to come down. We had our chances, but they had chances too.“

The Warriors will move on and host Louisa County - and likely No. 1 pitcher Gunnar Carroll - in the district final on Thursday, and Hurley admits that the team will try and remain focused on its goal of winning the trophy.